§188 Conduct of research, development, demonstration, testing and evaluation

Summary

Run both outside and inside research programs to meet the Department’s science and technology duties. The Secretary, through the Under Secretary for Science and Technology, must fund research both with outside groups (colleges, universities, private research institutes, companies) and with internal government labs. Outside programs must include participants from as many parts of the country as practical, use merit-based review (see section 182(14)) to make sure the work is high quality, and give money by grants, cooperative agreements, or contracts. The Secretary must pick one or more university-based homeland security centers to build a coordinated university system to strengthen homeland security. Centers should show expertise in many areas (for example: first responder training; WMD and biowarfare response; emergency and medical services; chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear detection; animal and plant health; food, water, port, and transportation security; information security and engineering; outreach and policy). The Secretary may drop or add criteria for a particular center if needed for security, but must publish those changes and the reasons in the Federal Register on the day a center is designated. Each year from the law’s enactment, the Secretary must report to Congress which centers were chosen and how they improve homeland security. Funding is authorized as needed. Use any federal lab expertise and create a headquarters lab if chosen. The Secretary may use any federal laboratory and may set up a Department headquarters laboratory and other lab units. If a headquarters lab is created, the Secretary must develop selection criteria with the National Academy of Sciences and others, publish the criteria, evaluate candidates, pick a site based on the criteria, and report to Congress which lab was chosen, how it meets the criteria, and its duties. No lab can begin as the Department headquarters until at least 30 days after that report. Definitions in this part: “country of concern” (see 10 U.S.C. 4872(d) or a country the Secretary finds harmful to U.S. security), “nonprofit organization,” “small business firm,” and “subject invention” (see 35 U.S.C. 201), and “manufactured substantially in the United States” = domestic end product (see 48 C.F.R. 25.003). For patent/license rules under 35 U.S.C. 204, the Secretary can waive domestic-manufacture requirements in individual cases if a small business, nonprofit, or assignee shows it tried but could not find U.S.-based licensees or U.S. manufacture is not feasible, but must follow the waiver procedures in section 70923(b)(2) of the Build America, Buy America Act and may not grant a waiver that would let products be made substantially in a country of concern.